Chapter 349: The Last Rite

The place was technically a crypt. A resting place for ancient beings that normally shouldn’t have ever met their ends.

Now, considering the kind of place they were in, one would never have thought of doing something outrageous.

Like engaging in an ancient ritual that had long been buried since the day the last mature black dragons disappeared from the face of Eryndra.

But that was exactly why Riley Hale Dravaryn had decided to do it.

Because for the first time ever, he realized that it didn’t really matter who he was now. For he had always been, and always would be, an Iltheran.

An Iltheran who had so many things to unpack. But more than that, probably the last one who would be able to perform it right.

Yep.

Right as in, as close to the original Rite of Blood and Flame of his ancestors.

Kael had told him about it before. How they had already performed the ceremony once when Kael had still been a dragonling, and Riley had been an egg. In a sense, all that had been left for them to do was consummate their bond.

However, that wasn’t exactly accurate.

Their ritual hadn’t been an exchange. It had been Kael building a bond that Riley hadn’t been able to return as a literal egg that could do nothing.

So how could Riley let his mate be slighted like that? How could Riley benefit from Kael without his mate receiving what was due him?

Moreover, how could he deprive him of the kind of mating that only a black dragon with a special constitution could provide?

Therefore, much to the shock of both the golden dragon lord and Thyrran, Riley, still in dragon form, got to work.

The black dragon lowered his massive head slightly as one of his claws lifted. With a precise motion, he dragged the tip of it across the hardened edge of his scale.

A clean cut opened.

Crimson welled instantly, and he was certain Kael was about to stop him.

But all movements stopped because instead of falling to the ground like ordinary blood, the droplets slowed.

They hovered.

One by one, the droplets rose into the air as if pulled by an invisible thread. They gathered between the two dragons, forming a slow circular motion that expanded outward with deliberate grace.

The blood began to move in patterns.

Curving.

Flowing.

Twisting into shapes that resembled ancient runes.

Each droplet stretched thin before reconnecting with another, forming glowing crimson symbols that hovered midair. The circle grew wider, the runes drifting into position like pieces of a puzzle that had been waiting centuries to be completed.

It wasn’t just blood.

It was Iltheran blood.

The kind of thing no other dragons could have.

They might be capable of copying the same runes. They might trace the same patterns. But without the blood of an Iltheran, the ritual would never awaken the same way.

Yet even Riley paused.

Because something strange was happening.

Of course, he had meant to guide the runes himself. With the knowledge he realized he possessed, he had expected to write them with his blood and mana.

But the symbols forming in the air weren’t actually following his hand or mind, which was just about to guide them

No. His blood and these runes were most definitely moving on their own.

__

Nearby, Kael stood in full golden dragon form, frozen in place as he watched the scene unfold. His head tilted slightly as the circle of blood runes expanded between them, each symbol pulsing with quiet power.

He blinked once.

Twice.

Then Thyrran hissed softly beside him.

“My Lord. Please watch.”

“Huh?”

“…Because who knows when anyone else would ever witness this.”

“This?”

“Yes. This.” The familiar’s voice softened as his gaze fixed on Riley. “My Master’s devotion to you.”

Thyrran’s eyes glimmered faintly as he spoke. The entity had been created by the black dragons themselves, a guardian of their archives and memories. So yes, he had known a bit about this. Yet for all his knowledge, he had never once been able to leave those halls to actually witness it.

Not until now.

And now he was witnessing something that had not happened since the fall of the Iltherans.

A full mating bond.

One witnessed by the ancestors themselves.

Because the runes weren’t being written by Riley.

They were being supported.

Lifted.

Guided.

By the lingering mana of those who had once slept within this crypt, like a final blessing for their precious one.

The familiar was correct.

Because Riley felt it too.

Better yet, he felt it again.

The unmistakable sensation that he wasn’t alone.

For a moment, he had wondered if the memories he had seen earlier had only been fragments left behind by the inheritance.

But now he understood.

He really had family here.

A family that was even doing this for him.

The runes continued to form, sliding gently into place one after another as the circle completed itself. Each symbol glowed softly before settling, as though guided by invisible hands that had once carried the same blood.

Riley felt his chest tighten.

Of course, he had wanted to do this for Kael.

To give his mate the bond he deserved and the bond he could provide.

But at the same time, the reason why Riley decided to do it here, of all places, was because he had wanted to pay homage to those who came before him.

So in the quiet of that crypt, surrounded by the silent presence of his ancestors, he found himself fighting back tears.

Because in the thick of it all was the initially ridiculous feeling that he had kind of buried.. That while he wanted to share this kind of bond with his mate, he also wanted to reassure them.

That he was fine now.

That he was happy.

That he was loved.

And that, in a sense, he finally understood why they had done what they had done.

Well, initially, he thought it was crazy because he knew doing it here was symbolic to him. A way for him to calm his own heart, but who would’ve thought that he really hadn’t gone insane?

The final rune slid gently into place with a burst of mana as the circle finally completed itself.

Riley took a deep breath, lifted his head gracefully, and turned toward his mate.

Through the bond between them, his voice brushed softly against Kael’s mind.

“What would you say to getting married to me again?”

The golden dragon lord froze.

But more powerful than his instincts, the answer would always come in a heartbeat.

A resounding yes.

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